


His Justice

by The_Pen_Dragon



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Angst and Fluff, Canon Divergence, Drug use mention, Interrogation Room Scene, M/M, Oneshot, au where the thieves didn't have a cognitive akira plan, spoilers for p5 vanilla, the police brutality Akira suffered is the highlight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:40:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22067146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Pen_Dragon/pseuds/The_Pen_Dragon
Summary: Goro Akechi had developed a real bond with the leader of the phantom thieves, only to be brought to this point. He would have to kill him. It would be quick. One shot, one bullet. But...can he really bring himself to go through with it?
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Amamiya Ren, Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 4
Kudos: 225





	His Justice

**Author's Note:**

  * For [A Friend](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=A+Friend).



> A gift for a friend of mine who wanted to see a canon divergence where Akechi saves Akira from the interrogation room instead of shooting him. I hope you all enjoy this short and sweet little oneshot!

All day, Goro Akechi had been running a constant strain of static over and over in his mind. If he felt numb, it wouldn't hurt to pull the trigger. If white noise was the only noise in his head, then the sickening reality couldn't claw open his ribcage and eat his heart.

Akechi took a slow, steadying breath as he stepped onto the elevator. This had been the plan for months. He knew what he would have to do. He couldn't back out now. 

As he walked down the hall, the hollow metal clack of his steps echoed in his mind, accompanied by a second set. His gaze followed the noise, and a solitary presence cut through the static.

"Akechi kun, they let you down here?" Sae asked, surprised.

Her voice sounded distant, near distorted, and it took Akechi a moment to right his mask and recite his lines.

"Indeed, I am the lead detective on this case now after all."

"They...they turned it over to YOU?" Sae asked, her voice equal parts outrage and shock.

Akechi gave the tiniest, doll-like smile, "I'm joking, of course. They just let me come down to talk to our suspect, considering...who it is."

Sae nodded slowly, not seeming to buy it, "well...he's in rough shape, so I don't think you'll get much more conversation out of him. Good luck."

She waved goodbye as she continued on her way. Akechi's brow furrowed. Rough shape? He had merely been taken into police custody, he hadn't been that injured when he was arrested, so how could he be worse now?

He glanced behind him, waiting for Sae to reach the elevators before he hurried his pace, trotting down the hall.

Why did it matter? He was going to be dead in a few minutes anyway. It didn't make the slightest difference what condition he was in, he was still leaving here in a body bag. 

More thoughts were breaching Akechi's static barrier, little flares of guilt and worry. He didn't  _ want _ to kill Kurusu. He didn't  _ want _ him to be hurt. He wanted to avenge his mother, it was all he'd ever wanted. He had never imagined such a body count would ensue from his desire for justice.

He stopped in front of the door, his hand resting on the knob. The briefest flicker of a memory came to him, a time when someone he loved had been on the other side of a door, and he hadn't been able to save them. 

His jaw clenched. This was different. Kurusu was the enemy. He wasn't his friend, or his ally, and he was not by any means someone Akechi loved. He couldn't be, it would ruin everything.

When he opened the door, the first thing he saw was the color purple. There wasn't much light in the room, but what little there was showed Kurusu's face well enough. 

_ Purple.  _

_ Purple and black. _

Grey eyes, dull and unfocused, rose to meet his. Kurusu's pale face was marred with bruises of all sizes. Alechi could recognize the bruising from a punch well enough, and it was clear the cops had been especially brutal with him.

The boy's head rested on his hands, propped up by his elbows as he stared silently at the detective. Even from here, Akechi could make out the bruises against his arms as well.

_ Handcuffs. _

_ A bruising grip. _

The static in his head was getting louder suddenly. Akechi glanced to the floor next, a small glint catching his attention. His eyes widened when he saw four needles littering the floor.

_ Four? _

_ Drugs of some kind. _

_ Too much for one person. _

Akechi's eyes refocused on the thief. He could see it now, the slight tremble in his arms. The way Kurusu's eyes refused to focus no matter how hard he tried.

Akechi took one long stride to the right, slipping his hand into the guard's holster. He had the pistol out and had shot the guard before the man had so much uttered a word of protest. Akechi stared blankly at the dead body, gun still smoking in his hand.

He shifted, pulling a silencer out of his pocket to screw onto the muzzle of the gun.

Kurusu looked awful. He looked close to death as it was. Putting him down would almost be a mercy at this point. He swallowed hard, pointing the gun without looking up.

"Do a man a favor, an' look him in the eyes when you kill 'im," Kurusu rasped, his voice slightly slurred.

Akechi's hand shook. He swallowed again. "You had to make this difficult," he whispered.

"Mm," was the only response Kurusu gave.

Akechi slowly lowered the gun. He walked up to the table, resting his right hand on it. It took him another minute to look Kurusu in the face. It was almost unbearable to look at. His chest ached seeing him this way.

"Why?" Akechi whispered, "why are you doing this to me?"

Kurusu shifted ever so slightly in his seat, carefully, as if moving too quickly would cause him to fall. He laid one hand on the table, the other still propping his head up by a shaking palm.

"I'm not doinga damn thing. You win, dececkive. I'm at your mercy. Go on, kill me."

Even in this state, barely conscious, barely clinging to life, Kurusu still managed to be snarky. Akechi let out a huff of a laugh. Not because it was funny, but just because it was so very like Kurusu. It was so like him that it physically hurt.

This was for his justice, for his mother. Kurusu was the last one. The last innocent person he would ever have to kill. One bullet, one second, and it would ensure Akechi's plan.

He took another deep breath, lifting up the gun again. Kurusu didn't flinch. His face stayed in that same, half dazed, half broken expression.

Akechi grit his teeth. He had shot so many people. He just killed a man two seconds ago, this shouldn't be so hard. He yelled in frustration, throwing the gun down on the table.

"Why?! You're the only person in my way! So why do you have to be like this?!" He demanded.

"I'm not stopping you," Kurusu replied, voice a raspy growl.

"You made me care about you!" Akechi cried, "you made me feel things I don't want! I can't stand this, seeing you like this, it's like torture, and if anyone deserves to be tortured it's me, but-" he paused to take a shaky breath.

"I don't have a choice. He'll kill me, and then it will all have been for nothing."

"Then lemme help you out," Kurusu replied, an agitated grumble. He picked up the gun by the silencer, pressing it against his own forehead.

He looked angry, he looked pained, but most of all he looked so, so tired. "Go ahed. Provme wrong. Pull the FUCKING trigger, Goro."

Akechi reflexively smacked the gun out of his hands, sending it spinning across the floor. He covered his mouth, feeling tears begin to prick the corners of his eyes. 

"Don't... Don't call me that," he whispered.

Kurusu didn't say a word. His gaze followed the gun, and he clicked once with his tongue. He looked back up at Akechi, searching his face for a moment, still silent.

"You...how dare..." Akechi shook his head. Everything hurt. He had to kill him, he HAD to. But it hurt so bad even thinking about pulling the trigger. And it hurt worse seeing Kurusu in this state. He couldn't take it, it was all just too much.

Akechi sank to his knees, a single choked sob escaping him. "I...I can't... Akira..." He pressed his face into his hands, shoulders shaking as he tried to keep from crying.

"You're strnger thanyou think, Goro," Akira said, voice a bit more slurred than before. "I knewit...from... from the... star t."

Then Akechi heard a thud. 

He looked up quickly, tears in his eyes. Akira had fallen out of his chair, and was slumped over, unconscious on the floor. Akechi made a strangled sound, scrambling to get to him. 

He grabbed Akira around the waist, hoisting him into his lap as he checked for a pulse. It was there, but it was pretty weak. Akechi felt himself tearing up worse. "No, nononono... Akira you can't die you can't don't leave me please don't leave!"

He took a few ragged, shaky breaths, any thought of killing the thief suddenly the furthest thing from his mind. He was so terrified, so panicked that he called the only person he could think to in this situation.

It only rang twice before Sae picked up, "hello? Akechi? What's-"

"You have to help me he passed out on the floor and I'm a terrible person," Akechi said all at once, breath shallow as he held the phone with one hand, and cradled Akira's head in the other.

"Wh-what? Akira passed out? Are you still in the interrogation-"

"Mom! Please!" Akechi interrupted, starting to cry now, "I-I can explain later, you just have to help before he dies! I can't lose him I can't mom I can't-"

"Okay, okay, Akechi, take a deep breath. I'll be right there," Sae replied gently.

\---

It had taken a few minutes to convince Sae to ignore the dead body in the corner and just help him get Akira to a doctor, but she eventually agreed after seeing how bad Akira looked.

After a tense car ride, Akira was brought to the shady doctor he always went to for metaverse medicine. Akechi had more faith in her than in any hospital. She hadn't even asked when they came in, she'd just told Akechi to carry Akira to the exam table and that she would handle it.

Akechi sat in the waiting room, hands in his lap. Sae was next to him, quiet. She was waiting for him to explain, but he wasn't sure how to even start.

"Sae..." He began. He took a shaky breath, deciding to just get right to the point. "I'm the one behind the mental shut downs. It was always me."

She blinked slowly, seeming unsure how to register that information. Akechi's hands curled against his knees, "whatever Akira told you about the metaverse... it's all true. And I'm the one they were looking for. I was a traitor, and a coward, and a murderer. And I feel like my eyes are open for the first time in two years. Sae... I can't do it anymore."

She stayed quiet. Lips pursed and eyes wide. Akechi looked up at her. He felt small. "Please say something," he whispered.

"I... I need time to process this, Akechi. It's kind of a lot," she finally managed. "You... You're a kid. You couldn't be responsible for-I don't-w...why would you?"

"Justice," Akechi mumbled, "or some perverse sense of it. Doing what he said was the only way to get close enough to take him down."

"What-who??" Sae pressed, increasingly confused.

"Shido. Masayoshi Shido," Akechi replied. "God, I've been such a fucking fool."

Saw was quiet again, blinking slowly as she tried to wrap her head about all of this.

Tae walked out of the exam room then, sparing Akechi from having to try and explain further. She sighed heavily, peeling her gloves off.

"He's stable. I don't know how he got four adult doses of a military grade drug in him, but I'm not going to ask. You didn't do this to him, did you?" She asked.

Akechi shook his head quickly, "no, I didn't. So...he's going to be okay? When will he wake up?"

Tae nodded shortly, "he should wake up pretty soon, he's got a lot of saline pumping into him right now. It should flush that garbage out of his system in a few hours. His heart rate was incredibly low, it was lucky it didn't just stop altogether."

Akechi let out a long, shuddering breath. Akira was okay. He was going to be okay.

"How bad a shape was he in?" Sae piped up.

Tae clicked her tongue, glancing down at her clipboard, "well, he was covered head to toe in bruises, for one. But on top of that, he sprained a wrist, dislocated a knee, has three cracked ribs, and, once again, such a high dose of drug cocktail that I'd be amazed if he was awake for more than an hour after being shot up with it."

"...he stayed awake for seven hours," Sae murmured. "And he never once said the pain he was in. Never even tried..."

Tae blinked, "okay. I need to know, how did this happen?"

"He was arrested, and the police brutalized him, is what happened," Akechi replied. "Sae was just sent in to interrogate him, she couldn't have known the extent of..." Akechi shook his head, "oh god, poor Akira..."

"That poor boy," Sae murmured, "he didn't deserve this." She took a deep breath, "Akechi. I still need to process everything you just told me, but... I feel like I can trust you around Akira. I'm going to go find Sojiro and update him."

Akechi thanked Sae, and she left. Tae was nice enough to let Akechi go back into the exam room to see Akira. He was lying on the table, clothes folded beside the bed and instead covered in bandages and a sheet. He looked a little better, less like he was going to drop dead any second anyway.

Akechi sat next to the bed, taking Akira's hand gently. "I'm so sorry, for everything," he murmured.

\---

Akechi had taken all night explaining the situation to Sae and Sojiro. Futaba filled them in on whatever details he didn't know or couldn't explain well enough. In the end, the adults decided they would wait to do anything about this development until after the main problem, Shido, was dealt with. And of course, they needed Akira for that.

Akechi stated in the cafe attic for the next three days, talking to the thieves when they visited, learning that they had all already known who he really was. They begrudgingly let him stay, knowing Futaba would keep a close eye on things, and knowing that Akira would have probably wanted him to stay.

Akira finally woke up on the fourth morning. Akechi was just setting a fresh damp cloth on Akira's forehead when the boy made a small sound.

"Akira?" Akechi asked hopefully.

There was another soft grunt, and Akira's eyes slowly cracked open. Deep dark silver irises, full of life. Akechi had never been so relieved.

"Go..ro..?" Akira mumbled.

"Akira," Akechi sighed in relief, "I... am so glad I didn't kill you."

Akira's eyes slipped closed again, and a small smile formed on his face. "I knew you wouldn't."

Akechi rubbed his eyes, not wanting to cry for what felt like the tenth time in the last four days. He hesitantly reached out, taking Akira's hand in his. "...I don't think I deserve a second chance, but... I do at least owe you a full explanation."

Akira shushed him, quietly squeezing his hand back, "Goro, Goro hush. I know plenty. I know about Shido. I don't know why, but, I know some."

Akechi squeezed his hand harder, "You... but then why? Why did you let me get this far?"

Akira turned his head, slowly opening his eyes again, "Because. You believe in justice, don't you?"

"It was a false justice. It was all based on a selfish desire for revenge, I could have killed you so easily, Akira. How could you possibly think-"

"I'm alive right now, aren't I?" He asked, smiling softly, "You've done some bad things, but I still believe in the good in you. The true justice."

He held Akechi's hand tighter, shifting and pulling it up to his face. He pressed Akechi's hand to his mouth, giving it a soft, sweet kiss.

"Besides, I still like you a lot, you know."

Akechi blushed brightly, and for once didn't yank his hand away, "flirting at a time like this...you really are unbelievable."

"Admit it, you like that about me," Akira grinned. He still looked so tired, and his face still had fading bruises on it, but there was just as much fire in those eyes as ever, and his grin was just as catlike. 

Akechi laughed lightly, a soft, breathy laugh, but a genuine one. He gave a small smile and knelt by the side of Akira's bed.

He withdrew his hand from Akira's weak grasp, quietly removing his leather gloves before shifting forward, running both hands through Akira's hair. It was so soft...he had always wondered what that mess of waves felt like. 

"You're wrong," Goro said softly, "I love that about you." 

Akira hummed in appreciation, nuzzling up into Goro's touch as his eyes closed. The former detective leaned forward, lightly bumping their foreheads together, making Akira open his eyes again. He waited for Akira to look at him, giving him a chance to pull back. When he didn't, Goro closed the gap, pressing his lips against Akira's.

They were soft, too. Goro suddenly couldn't imagine a world in which he had never kissed Akira Kurusu. A world where he wasn't around.

His hands gently cupped the thief's face as they kissed. He didn't realize he was crying until he felt Akira swipe a finger across his cheek.

He pulled back a bit, laughing and rubbing at his eyes. "Sorry, so sorry..."

"No, it's okay," Akira smiled, looking teary himself. "I'm happy too."

Goro climbed up onto the bed, pressing himself next to Akira and wrapping his arms carefully around his shoulders. He kissed him again and again, overwhelmed with a sudden need to be close to him.

Akira wrapped one arm around Goro in return, fingers gently grazing up and down his back as he returned the affection. "Goro?" He murmured after a few minutes.

Goro stopped kissing his face, opting to nuzzle into the crook of his neck instead, "Mm?"

Akira closed his eyes and rested his cheek against the top of Goro's head, "...I know there's a lot we have to talk about, and there's a lot you still have to answer for, but... I need you to know something."

"...whassthat?" Goro asked, muffled against Akira's skin.

Akira wrapped his arm more tightly around Goro, trying hard to hold him close despite his injuries, "I love you."

And then Goro was crying again.

He and Akira both ended up falling asleep after a while, still pressed close in a strange half hug, Goro not wanting to leave him for a second. The last thought Goro had as he slowly drifted off next to the recovering Akira was, for once, that things were going to get better.

He had a long path ahead of him, but he had taken those first steps towards betterment. Towards recovery. Towards his true justice.


End file.
